Study the chapter for help in improving your areas of weakness. Evaluate your performance.
An experienced manager is often called on to help another new manager who requests help. It is always appropriate to mentor, teach, and guide others, but when you realize you are doing the person’s work and your work is not getting done or is late, your time is wasted.
Time Analysis The first step is to analyze how time is being used. The second is to determine whether time use is appropriate to your role. You may find much of your time is taken up doing “busywork” rather than activities that contribute to a particular outcome. Job redesign places emphasis on ensuring that time is spent wisely and that the right individual is correctly assigned the responsibility for tasks.
Time logs, as shown in Box 13-2, are useful in analyzing the actual time spent on various activities. Select a typical week and keep a log of activities in 15 to 60 minute increments. Keep it simple. List columns for the time period and the activity. Review your log for what activities are essential and what can be delegated or eliminated. Alternatively, you can use a planner or ap- pointment calendar in place of a separate log.